On October 7, the Department of State will hold a public meeting about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project. The purpose of the meeting is to give individuals an opportunity to voice their views on whether granting or denying a Presidential Permit for the pipeline would be in the U.S. national interest.

This meeting, like the eight meetings held last week in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Montana, will be a listening session. All comments will be transcribed by a court reporter and will become part of the administrative record.

Speakers will be signed up on a first-come, first-served basis (with an exception made for elected officials at the Presiding Officer’s discretion). Sign-up will begin approximately 30 minutes before the meeting’s start time. Speakers will each be given three minutes to speak.

To accommodate those who cannot attend or who are unable to deliver their full comments in the allotted time, the Department is accepting written comments through October 9. All written comments will have equal standing with spoken comments from the public meeting and will become part of the administrative record.

This meeting is open press. Media planning to bring video cameras should arrive by 8:30 a.m. to accommodate set-up. Media representatives may attend this event upon presentation of one of the following: (1) a U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification card (driver's license or passport).